CHAPTER XXIV.
Ghastly mistakes! Some cynic has said the only mistake in life a man can make is "to go broke." Bryant did not realize until afterward the irony lurking in the penumbra of the talk with Menocal.

He was broke, unable to proceed, even while he listened to the banker's commendation.

The workmen were busy, it was true, and the horses were pulling loaded fresnos, and plows were cutting the trench deeper; but that was an expiring motion, a last falling gesture.

Only a few wretched dollars lay at the bottom of the money chest.

A day more, and Menocal would have won.
That evening Lee climbed in his car and drove away from camp.